


Stay with Me

by Izzu



Category: Hidarime Tantei EYE (TV), Japanese Drama, Quiz Show (Japan TV)
Genre: Gen
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2010-04-24
Updated: 2011-06-26
Packaged: 2017-12-22 12:15:09
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Major Character Death
Chapters: 4
Words: 3,207
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/913102
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Izzu/pseuds/Izzu
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>AU-Anti Hope universe. Sometimes...what you wished, doesn't necessary be something good.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Twist

_"This is wrong. It shouldn't be like this. How could it...?"_

_"Don't blame yourself so much—there's nothing you could do at that time."_

_"B-but... I should have... done something."_

_"There's nothing else that we can do now. It was all up to him."_

xxx

**Everyone...**

**If you were given a chance to turn back time; would you try to change the past?**

**If that was so... does the things that had happened so far, have no meaning for you?**

**Knowing that... would you still try to change your future?**

xxx

The high-pitched ring of the alarm clock jerked Ainosuke awake as he found himself leaning on the side of his desk. He sat up to find his brother, Yumehito, sitting beside him. Watching him in amusement. The man ran his hand over his head as he smiled weakly.

"You must have been so tired that I needed to use  _two_  alarm clocks to wake you up. Or do I need to give you a kiss instead?"

Yumehito laughed as Ainosuke threw a textbook at him before catching it with his hand. He frowned suddenly.

"Ainosuke, are you sure you're fine living like this?"

"Eh?"

Ainosuke frowned as he got up before sitting on his brother's lap.

"What did you mean? Sure I'm happy right now. I have brother with me."

Yume's expression become sadder as Ainosuke finished talking.

"It's not right. You still had a lot of things in front of you. Your future's still long."

Ainosuke just shook his head as he pulled on both of his brother's arm and wrapped them around himself. Yumehito just sighed.

xxx

Sayama Hitomi entered the hospital room quietly as she sat beside the bed. She sighed heavily as she eyed the person lying on the bed.

It had been sudden. It was supposed to be a fun school outing. They never expected that speeding car that came from another direction to lose control and hit the bus. Some of the students were admitted to the hospital, including him. Most of them had suffered minor injuries and had recovered well from them. His injuries were also minor... yet, until now, he had not awakened from his slumber. His injuries hadn't been that bad—though a minor head concussion was not something you can laugh at either. The doctors also said that his injuries had already healed and they detected nothing wrong about his condition. Ainosuke should be able to wake up by now. Yet...

Could it be possible, that Ainosuke doesn't  _want_  to wake up?

"This kid... sure is stubborn. I wonder from where did he get that from?"

Hitomi jumped at the sound of the voice as she turned towards it. She blinked in disbelief. Tanaka Yumehito smiled at her as he placed a hand on Ainosuke's arm. Completely ignoring the stares he got from her, he continued to watch his sleeping brother.

" _Sensei_... I'll entrust Ainosuke to both of you. Please take care of him for me. I'll try to reason with my silly little brother..."

Hitomi continued to stutter as she couldn't believe her eyes at what she was seeing now. Just before she could finally utter a word at the person, a loud knock was heard from behind her. She hastily turned to find Kato entering the room, bringing some food for her.

"K-Kato-san! J-just now!" she stuttered as Kato looked at her in alarm.

"W-what? Did Ainosuke woke up?"

"N-no!—"

When she turned around, Yumehito was already gone. She shook her head in disbelief.

"J-just now... I thought I saw Yumeto-san..."


	2. Denial

"Ainosuke..."

The young lad turned around innocently as he took his hand to lead him into their secret base. Yumehito could do nothing but follow as they entered the place. Ainosuke smiled.

"It's been a long time, isn't it? Since we came here together..." Ainosuke started to say as Yume watched him silently. "This place... I can't believe I almost forgot about it. We used to play here so often, na?"

Yume smiled bitterly as he noticed how Ainosuke had been holding on his hand so tightly. Perhaps, in reality...

"Brother liked it too... isn't it? My drawings... we always come here to play after all. You always let me spend time here... drawing..."

He sighed.

"Yeah... this was our special place, isn't it? Yet... it was at this place, that they found us. Don't you remember? It's because we headed here... that when we were about to head for home, we stumbled onto them here—"

Ainosuke turned towards him angrily.

"Why did you have to talk about depressing things,  _niichan?_ Why can't you talk about something els—"

Yume remained expressionless as Ainosuke maintained his gaze.

"As expected, you  _do_ know. Isn't it futile? This was not the real world."

Yume paused before continuing his sentence. He needed to tell this to him. He need to... or else he could not pass on. He wouldn't be able to... not when he's like this.

"Ainosuke. Enough."

He sighed.

"I'm already dead. There's nothing else you could do but move on. It's for both of our sakes."

xxx

Hitomi sighed. This had been worse than the last time she had waited on his bedside. When he had jumped off Nanbu with his brother. This was definitely worse than that.

She had been thinking. She had been thinking a lot anyway, considering there was nothing else that she could do.

Ainosuke... really loved his older brother. Yumeto-san too. She realized it... he had always been like that—all the time, even while he had been acting as Sakisaka-san. Despite everything that had happened, Ainosuke had never been hurt so much, physically. Even though most of those crime plans had targeted people close to Ainosuke. Even that time... during Blue Heaven—Ainosuke's injuries wasn't even that bad.

Perhaps it was strange to call that as being caring to Ainosuke. But Yumeto-san... seemed to only want to attack Ainosuke spiritually—since he couldn't do much more than that. In a very strange way, that was how he could show Ainosuke his love...

Hitomi sighed.

She probably would not be able to understand it. But those two... must have really depended on each other so much. It can't be avoided, isn't it? Since they've lost their parents so early—they must have clung to each other for strength and support.

Perhaps that was why... when she had felt the premonition that Yumeto-san might not have survived the  _incident_ , she had insisted on telling Ainosuke that he must return alive to them; regardless what happened later. Because knowing what kind of strong bond the two siblings had with each other, she couldn't stand the thought of what could happen to Ainosuke if Yumeto-san should die. Even before she actually knew who Yumeto-san really was, she had already sensed that Yumeto-san was really a kind person. To have been able to raise Ainosuke to be such a kind person himself, she couldn't be so wrong about that. And so... with that kind of bond, it wouldn't be that hard to think... how his death would deeply affect Ainosuke.

And this... was definitely something that she had not wanted to ever happen. Not to Ainosuke.

" _I'll entrust Ainosuke to both of you. Please take care of him for me."_  
  
Hitomi cried.

 _Yumeto-san... I wonder if we could actually fulfil your last wish..._  
  
She hastily wiped the tears from her face before noticing that Ainosuke... had been crying as well.


	3. Shortlived Dreams

The moment he opened his eyes towards a white ceiling, a part of him immediately felt at lost. He tried turning his head to look around as his body felt tightly wound—as if it has been a while since he had moved any of his limbs.  _But that can't be possible! Because it was only the other day—_

"You've finally woke up. And I thought perhaps I would need to take some drastic measures..."

Ainosuke turned his head around to find his brother smiling as he sat on his bedside.  _Weird... he did not see his brother there just now, and he hadn't felt him taking his seat beside him..._

The man smiled.

"You've forgot, didn't you? You've had an accident... and you've been asleep for a long time. I've been with you since then. This was what I was trying to tell you since the beginning..."

Ainosuke frowned at his older brother before everything started to come back.

Those occasional talks. All those times when he was still caught in between his dreams, which he had thought as real. Those depressing talks... the screams... the sudden jerk he had felt in the bus, just before he felt his body being thrown to one side...

That fateful morning when he had held his brother's cold body, crying with all his might at the fact that he had failed to save his brother...

Tears started welling in his eyes as he tried to reach out towards his brother, the one who was now giving him a sad smile—as Ainosuke only manage to grasp empty air. His face wrinkled in anguish as Ainosuke finally understood.

_He's already dead... his brother had been dead for a while now..._

But... if that was the truth, then what was  _this_  brother who was looking at him now?

" _A... ni... ki?"_

He cried as he tried to reach out towards his brother again. Yumehito gently held his hand and placed a soft kiss on it. Ainosuke gasped as he felt cold air touching his fingers.  _Then... was it true? His brother right now... was just a..._

A sudden sound came about as if it came from the direction of the door being opened but Ainosuke paid no heed towards it. He cried out in alarm as his brother started to fade into thin air.

" _Aniki!"_

He cried again as his voice sounded hoarse. Ainosuke suddenly felt his body being lifted and embraced, as he continued staring towards the last spot where his brother last stood.

"Ainosuke! Thank goodness! Finally you wake up. We really thought you won't wake up anymore!"

Sayama Hitomi cried as she continued to hold Ainosuke tightly, while Kato stared at the young boy in concern. The kid didn't exactly looked thrilled to return into the world of the living... after all.

xxx

"Here...," said Hitomi gently as she tried to feed him some porridge. Ainosuke did nothing as he refused to eat.

Hitomi frowned as she placed the bowl on the nearby table as she tried to get him to drink instead.

"Here, you must be thirsty—" she suddenly gave a cry as Ainosuke pushed her hand away, causing the juice carton she had been holding to fall on the floor.

"Stop it already! I don't want to eat or drink anything!"

Hitomi frowned as she picked up the carton and set it aside. Thankfully, only a bit of the juice had spilled away so it wouldn't be hard to clean the mess up.

"Ainosuke... you have to at least eat something—your body needed the strength to get better—"

"Who said I wanted to get better? Is it hard to leave me alone—"

"Ainosuke... we cared about you—"

"—can't you get it that it's better for me to just di—"

SLAP!

Ainosuke blinked at her as his hand touched his cheek that had started to burn from the slap. Hitomi glared at him angrily as tears started to well in her eyes.

"Ainosuke is stupid!", she cried before storming out of the room.

"Ara... ara, now you've done it. You've made her mad..."

Ainosuke turned his attention away from the door as he stared towards his brother. Suddenly he felt a pleasant cool breeze around him as his brother wrapped his arm around him. Yumehito sighed.

"And I had been hoping for her to keep watching over you."

"Why? Was it wrong for me to want to be with you?"

Yumehito shrugged.

"It was not your time yet."


	4. New Life

Ainosuke snorted.

"Not  _my time_? Then what about you?"

The apparition that was of his older just shrugged. " _Regardless... I'm already dead. You're not. So you should continue living. Live... for me._ "

Ainosuke cried.

"Why you're still so cruel? Why you're  _still_  leaving me behind? Why can't you let me  _follow_  you?"

Yumeto stayed quiet. He turned his attention towards the door as Sayama Hitomi barged into the room again. He grinned as she took a seat on the other side of the bed.

"Ainosuke, I'm sorry... for slapping you. But you have to eat, ne?  _Oniichan_ wouldn't want you to be like this. You have to keep on living!" she said as Ainosuke stared behind her in disbelief, since he could still see his brother giving him the serious look.

" _You heard her. Apologize... and promise to follow what she says from now on."_ Ainosuke stopped himself from gasping aloud as Yume's ghost (?) placed his hands on her shoulders.  _"I was hoping that your teacher could take care of you for me. That won't work unless you cooperated with the plan."_  
  
Hitomi suddenly shivered. "Whoa... the aircon sure is cold today. Ainosuke... Ainosuke? You hear me? Come to think... have you been talking to someone just now? I thought I heard voices..."

Ainosuke jerked. His brother gave him an amused look as if challenging him to speak. He sighed.

"I'm sorry..."

Hitomi looked up towards him. "Eh? Ainosuke-kun? Wha—?"

Ainosuke looked down towards his fingers. "I was wrong too. I shouldn't have... said those words. Brother... if he was still alive, would have kicked me as well if I had acted like that to him."

Ainosuke felt the cold air again behind his back as he heard that faint voice again.

" _Right. So stay as a good boy now. If you do... perhaps I might come visit you again. In your dreams perhaps..."_  
  
The cold sensation started to disappear as Ainosuke heard no more from him. He gasped as he looked up—to find that his brother was no longer around inside the room. Suddenly... he collapsed into tears as Hitomi hurriedly wrapped her arms around him in panic.

xxx

The lone man looked up towards the clear skies before sighing. It has been a while.

He can hardly believed it that his sentence had actually been shortened due to him being  _in good behaviour._  Guess some of those juries felt sympathy on him and felt that prolonging his sentence was not necessary. Since... despite some of the things he had done in the show, there were some of those who had their lives changed for the better because of him. Even though his actions were not completely in the right either.

But now that he was free again... what should he do with his remaining life? Is there anything else that he could allow himself to doing now?

He did not have planned anything after all...

xxx

Ainosuke sighed as he stared at the sky. It has been several weeks since he was discharged from the hospital and resumed life like normal. He had done what he had promised his brother, to continue living. And to think positively towards life.

He had done all that... and even allowed Sayama-sensei to be fussing about his well-being on a daily basis.

Yet, something was still missing from inside of him.  _Someone..._  
  
"Liar. You said you'd come visit me if I was a good boy..."

" _Who was that? Someone special to you?"_  
  
Ainosuke scowled. "Of course! He's my older brother... and even if I shouldn't be expecting a miracle—he was already dead anyway...!"

Ainosuke gasped. That voice! He could always recognize that voice from anywhere...

...only to be frozen stiff, staring at the man who happened to have sat on the same bench as he had... in this small park. The man cocked his head at Ainosuke.

"Something wrong? You looked like you've seen a ghost, kid."

Ainosuke blinked. It could not be a coincidence, could it? The man looked like him, but he was not  _him._  It was the same face... but the hair was different. Even the way of speaking was different...

"W-who... are you?"

The man shrugged. "Just no one important. I don't even know where I should go even. So I thought to sit down and take a break. What's your problem, kid?"

Ainosuke glanced sideways. "My brother had died. Even if I promised him I'll keep on living... I still felt empty. I missed him so much."

"You shouldn't be thinking about it too much ya know? The dead won't come back to life even if you kept clinging to it. You won't be happy, and you might get a bad effect from it too. Might make the other people who cared for you to be sad as well..."

Ainosuke stared back at the man. How could this guy said those things to him, when he knew nothing?

"What about you then? Don't you have a home to go back too?"

He shrugged again. "Haa... I'm not important. Don't think I have any home to go ba—"

"HONMA! There you are! Why don't you call me to tell that you've already got out? I was looking all over for you!"

Ainosuke blinked in surprised as he watched the man jumped and turned towards the voice before shouting back at the newcomer. So his name was Honma...

"Kamiyama! What're you doing here?"

Said man started stomping towards the Honma. "Looking for you obviously! Come! Even if you don't want to go back to your home or anywhere you used to be staying before, you might as well stay with me. We'll discuss the other arrangement on your job at the TV station with your dad later..."

Honma pulled his hand from Kamiyama's grip. " _My dad?_  What're you talking abou—"

Ainosuke saw the man called Kamiyama gestured towards a car at the side of the park, where an older lady was waiting. Ainosuke turned back towards the two as Honma seemed to have deflated.

Honma rolled his eyes, "Did you guys made some kinda arrangement behind my back? I  _don't want_ to go with you even if my life depended on it! And why did you need me for? I heard you've gotten really popular after  _that show_  ended."

Kamiyama pouted. "Hoooooonma! Can't we be friends again... like how we used to be when we're younger?"

The two started arguing again after that as Ainosuke suddenly felt warmth inside his heart. Somehow... for some reason, seeing that this guy named Honma still having someone who cared about him... warmed his heart. As if he was seeing...

"Thank you... Honma-san."

Honma and Kamiyama froze as he turned towards Ainosuke. "Pardon? Did you say something... kid?"

Ainosuke grinned. "I felt better now. Thanks for cheering me up."

Honma stared at him dumbfounded before Kamiyama continued dragging him towards the car. Ainosuke smiled before turning around to head home.

" _I'll always be with you... Ainosuke. Even if you can't see me anymore."_  
  
He gasped as he turned back. But Honma and Kamiyama had already left. So that voice just now...?

Ainosuke sighed to himself as he turned to head towards home. Looking at the sky, he smiled.

"Don't worry. I'm all right now. Finally."


End file.
